PR consultant and keen kickboxer Naushabah Khan selected as Labour party candidate in Rochester and Strood

PR consultant and keen kickboxer Naushabah Khan has been selected as Labour’s choice to fight the Rochester and Strood seat at the next election.

And the 27-year-old will not be pulling any punches when it comes to tackling issues in Medway.

Having been voted the winner by the Labour group on Saturday she has already drawn up a list in the hope of ousting sitting MP Mark Reckless.

The 27-year-old is the third and final prospective Parliamentary candidate to represent the party in Medway for the 2015 polls.

Labour councillor Tristan Osborne, 28, who represents Luton and Wayfield, has been selected to fight the Chatham and Aylesford seat while Paul Clark, former long-standing MP for Gillingham and Rainham, will be trying to win back his old seat.

Miss Khan lives in Gillingham and went to school at Burnt Oak Primary, in the town, Fort Pitt Grammar in Chatham and continued her sixth form studies at Rochester Math School.

She studied for a history degree at Birmingham University, which is where she joined the party at the age of 20.

She has recently completed a graduate diploma in law while working full-time.

She said: "Politics has always been in my family, but it was when the BNP started to emerge at an election I decided to join."

Raising the standard of education in the Towns is high on her list of priorities.

She said: "It has to be number one on the list of issues I want to focus on - especially in the light of poor Ofsted reports and a grammar school going into special measures."

Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless

Miss Khan will also be campaigning for more affordable housing and more opportunities for small businesses to expand.

She works for a leading consultancy in London, which handles major development projects, and has also been employed at the Department for Education.

She said: "I have worked in the private and public sector so I think I can bring a lot to the table.

"I also think you need more younger people in politics as well older people with experience.

"You need to be able to communicate and understand different generations."

Miss Khan stood in the last local election in 2011 and narrowly missed clinching a seat in the Gillingham North ward.

In her spare time, she enjoys kick-boxing and regularly goes to classes in London. She is currently working to get an extra qualification under her belt.

She also likes going to the gym, shopping, reading and watching reality TV.

Cllr Vince Maple, Labour group leader said: "We now have a team in place to bring change in 2015, both in Westminster and Gun Wharf."